#86 Can we afford to vote climate?

On why solving climate change is solving cost of living

Mōrena, and happy Tuesday!

Anyone who eats food in this country knows something is seriously wrong with cost of living. It’s not surprising that cost of living is our top election issue:

“I literally can’t afford to vote climate right now, I need help with my living costs more.”
- Undecided voter

But why do we have to choose one? It turns out climate and cost of living are both crises driven by the same root causes - which means we can solve both at the same time. 

Here’s a bit of a rundown of how a vote for climate is also a vote to help make our lives more affordable:

• Groceries: Despite producing enough food to feed 40 million people a year, food prices are rocketing due to crop-destroying weather events, NZ’s supermarket duopoly, and exporting billions of dollars of food. Experts are calling for a new national food plan focussing on local food focussing on local food to ensure everyone has access to nutritious affordable food, and Eat New Zealand are building grassroots support for this. This means less pollution in water, fewer transport emissions, and less synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use - a win for the climate and costs.

• Housing: Outlandish house prices, cold & damp homes, extortionate rents and increased homelessness: welcome to the NZ housing crisis. It’s clear that we aren’t building enough houses, nor the right kind of houses i.e. warm, dry, efficient, long-lasting, and close to our places of leisure and work. These would cost almost nothing to heat, and reducing urban sprawl cuts transport costs and emissions. It’s a win for housing inequality, health and the climate.

• Power bills: A report last year shows that energy generator-retailers are intentionally burning coal and gas for higher profits, which means more emissions and higher power bills for us. But just yesterday, there was a huge homegrown win that many of you were part of - see our “Wins” section! 

• Healthcare: Alongside investment in our healthcare workers, climate policy can significantly improve human health. Phasing out fossil fuels, plant-based diets grown without pesticides, warm dry homes and an emphasis on public transport alongside cycling and walking makes us healthier. It reduces health inequalities, strain on health services, and it is a win for climate. 

• Extreme weather events: Regular floods, droughts, and heatwaves cost our economy billions. The poor are always the ones that pay for this - in their housing, health, and lives. A government that takes climate change seriously is critical.

It’s clear that good climate policy translates into sustainable, healthy lives for everyone – not just the rich, privileged few. Parties who ride on the idea that cutting tax and regulation will magically make everything better, are working under outdated disproven trickle-down economic concepts. Or rather they ‘work’ to make the ultra-rich richer at the expense of the 99.9%. As we saw recently, it was rising profits, not labour costs or the war in Ukraine, that has pushed up inflation. 

Vote for climate action for a more affordable, liveable future. For more info on the exact policies of parties check out our election guide:

What can we do today?

The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was our 2023 Election Guide 🔥13 days until 2 Oct when the voting period starts!

🐝 If you have 5 minutes: KiC back and relax

• Kiwis in Climate have created an open letter appealing to our political parties to make this a climate election. But get in quick, it closes at 8pm this evening!

  Action, due 8pm tonight: Sign the KiC climate election letter 

• The decision to develop a new international airport in central Otago is still going ahead. More airports mean more planes and more emissions, and a disincentive to invest in regional rail. School Strike 4 Climate Ōtautahi/Christchurch protested yesterday, and we can support them by signing the petition.

  Action: Sign the petition to prevent Tarras Airport

🐇 If you have 15 minutes: A stitch in time saves nine

• Ever wanted to repair something but ended up buying a new one? The Repair Cafe aims to make repairing and keeping your things for longer easier, and is seeking feedback from the community on how they can help you do that.
  Action: Take the repair cafe survey

• We’re 13 days away from the start of the voting period (2-14 Oct). To make this a Climate Election, print our posters and put them up around the place to reach as many people as possible!
  Action: Print posters (B&W or colour) and stick them around your neighbourhood, workplace, or street!

💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: March this September

• Get all voters thinking about what kind of climate action they want to see in the next government by showing up to a Vote Climate march near you:

  • Christchurch, 1pm this Saturday 23rd at Bridge of Remembrance 

  • Dunedin, 2:30pm this Saturday 23rd at The Octagon

  • Auckland, 1pm Saturday 7 October in the CBD

• Taranaki, Thursday 21st: Local community group Climate Justice Taranaki is hosting a debate with Taranaki politicians to ask them what they are doing around the biggest issue of our time, climate change.
  Action: Join the conversation at 6pm at Cafe Green Door 

• The resource consent process for a proposed waste incinerator in Waipā opens for public submissions from this Friday. Local community group “Don’t Burn Waipā” is providing events and workshops for folks to write in to oppose the polluting project.
  Action, 6:30pm Tue 26 Sep, Te Awamutu: Public meeting for Don’t Burn Waipā
  Action, 7pm Tue 3 Oct, online: Submission writing party

Wins!

• A stunning, truly homegrown win yesterday - Labour has now committed to funding for rooftop solar and community energy (the Greens and Te Pāti Māori already support this). This is the result of an epic “Homegrown Energy” campaign by 350 Aotearoa - many of you reading this helped make this happen by signing their petition, sharing the report on gentailer price gouging, putting up posters, and attending an in-person doco screenings.

  • 8pm this Thursday 21 Sep: Attend the online premiere of the short documentary ‘We can produce our own power; Homegrown Energy in Aotearoa’.

Next step: Join an election campaign to ensure that parties committed to great policies like this are the ones in government!

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That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. If you feel pulled in a gazillion directions or are feeling a little low, enjoy this treatise on how the things you love create energy rather than suck time. 

P.S. 2 weeks ago, we had our Auckland Climate Festival event - turning climate anxiety into climate action! Thanks to those of you who could make it. And guess what? We learnt that a key step for managing climate anxiety is to take action in meaningful ways with others as part of a community 🌱

From top, left to right: Brian (Conscious Action), Michal (Foodprint), Dr Jackie Feather, Chlöe Swarbrick, Quack Pirihi, Alec Tang, Dhanya & Jenny, Pauli (MUV Talks).

See you next week, 

Cathy & the Climate Club team

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